CULTURAL COMPETENCY

Training and resources to help reduce health disparities

 WELCOME

Learning objective
The objective of this
presentation is to familiarize
health care professionals
with cultural competency,
and the training and
resources available to help
them reduce health
disparities within their own
practice.

Confidential, unpublished property of Cigna. Do not duplicate or distribute. Use and distribution limited solely to authorized personnel. © 2015 Cigna 2
 WHAT IS CULTURAL COMPETENCY?

Culture
Integrated patterns of behavior
that include language, thoughts,
communications, actions,
customs, beliefs, values, and
institutions of racial, ethnic,
religious, or social groups.

People with different cultures vary in when or how they:

 Obtain health care information
 Exercise their rights and protections
 Determine what is considered to be a health problem
 Express symptoms and concerns about a problem
 Determine who should provide treatment for a problem
 View various treatment options

Confidential, unpublished property of Cigna. Do not duplicate or distribute. Use and distribution limited solely to authorized personnel. © 2015 Cigna 3
 WHAT IS CULTURAL COMPETENCY? (CONT.)

Competence
An individual’s or organization’s
capacity to effectively meet the needs
of customers by understanding and
addressing their cultural beliefs,
behaviors, and linguistic needs.

Why is it important to be culturally competent?

 Health care professionals are seeing a growing number
of patients with diverse cultural backgrounds
 The more you know about someone’s health care
beliefs and practices, the better able you can develop
treatment plans for the best health outcomes

Confidential, unpublished property of Cigna. Do not duplicate or distribute. Use and distribution limited solely to authorized personnel. © 2015 Cigna 4
 WHAT MAKES SOMEONE CULTURALLY COMPETENT?

You become culturally competent through:

Awareness Knowledge
Being conscious of your Being familiar or
personal reactions to understanding of cultural
people who are different differences

Attitude Skills
Being conscious of your Being able to effectively
personal beliefs and communicate, including
values about cultural non-verbal gestures, and
differences interact with people of
different cultures

Confidential, unpublished property of Cigna. Do not duplicate or distribute. Use and distribution limited solely to authorized personnel. © 2015 Cigna 5
 HEALTH DISPARITIES
Who’s at risk?

Certain populations may

encounter barriers in the health
care delivery system and
variation in the quality of health
care they receive. Social
determinants, such as economic
and social conditions may also
play a significant role.

Many factors can influence a person’s health status and outcome:

 Gender  Income  Sexual orientation
 Race  Language  Age
 Ethnicity  Culture  Disability
 Education  Geography

Confidential, unpublished property of Cigna. Do not duplicate or distribute. Use and distribution limited solely to authorized personnel. © 2015 Cigna 6
 HEALTH DISPARITIES FACTS

Did you know?

 Nearly
The objective
50 percentof of
this
physicians
in the
presentation
U.S. report
is their
to familiarize
ability to
provide
healthquality
care professionals
care to all patients
with
is affected
cultural competency,
by communicationand the
difficulties
training and
due resources
to language or
cultural
available
barriers.*
to help them reduce
health disparities within their
 These types of challenges in
own practice.
providing quality health care to
everyone will continue to grow
as the population continues to
diversify in the U.S.

* James D. Reschovsky, Ellyn R. Boukus. Modest and Uneven: Physician

Efforts to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparities. Issue Brief No. 130.
February 2010. Center for Studying Health System Change.

Confidential, unpublished property of Cigna. Do not duplicate or distribute. Use and distribution limited solely to authorized personnel. © 2015 Cigna 7
 CASE SCENARIO 1

Meet Juliza, from Guatemala

Juliza is 68 years old, and speaks Spanish
only. She has advanced cataracts. Her
ophthalmologist recommends extractions and
asks the nurse practitioner, who does not
speak Spanish, to explain the procedure and
obtain informed consent.

Result: Juliza’s daughter, who accompanied her to the appointment, tries

to interpret. Although she is not able to fully explain to her mother all that
the nurse practitioner has said, the daughter agrees to the procedure.
Learn more about the value of interpreter services
Visit the Cultural Competency Training and Resources page on the Cigna
for Health Care Professional’s website (CignaforHCP.com).*

* View the Interpreters Save Lives public service announcement: CignaforHCP.com >
Resources > Medical Resources > Doing Business with Cigna > Cultural Competency
Training and Resources. Under More Resources, click on Interpreters Save Lives.

Confidential, unpublished property of Cigna. Do not duplicate or distribute. Use and distribution limited solely to authorized personnel. © 2015 Cigna 8
 CASE SCENARIO 2

Meet Ian, a devout Christian

Ian is 63 years old, and believes that all
Scripture is inspired by God for instruction in
salvation and training in righteousness. He
accepts the Scriptures as “The Word of God
and as the fully reliable and trustworthy
standard for Christian faith and life.”

Ian’s request: After the doctor informed him that he has colon cancer, Ian
asks the medical staff to join him and his family in the exam room for a
brief prayer.
Learn more about religious influences in patient interactions
Visit the CultureVision™ website.*

* Access the CultureVision website: CignaforHCP.com Resources > Medical Resources > Doing
Business with Cigna > Cultural Competency Training and Resources. Under Featured
Resources, click on CultureVision. Login: CignaHCP / Password: doctors123!

Confidential, unpublished property of Cigna. Do not duplicate or distribute. Use and distribution limited solely to authorized personnel. © 2015 Cigna 9
 HOW HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS CAN HELP

Increase cultural competency in

health care by:

 Communicating effectively with

patients
 Understanding their cultural and social
context, as well as their diverse values,
beliefs, and behaviors
 Customizing treatments to meet
patients’ social, cultural, and linguistic
needs
 Reducing disparities to increase
patient adherence and improve health
outcomes

Confidential, unpublished property of Cigna. Do not duplicate or distribute. Use and distribution limited solely to authorized personnel. © 2015 Cigna 10
 FREE RESOURCES ON CIGNA’S CULTURAL COMPETENCY WEB PAGE*

Increase cultural competency in

health care by:
Sample cultural competency
resource listing

Patient communication Toolkits provided by: Health care professional

resources  American Academy of training
 Patient health care Family Physicians (AAFP)  A self assessment
preferences  Centers for Disease  Webinars
questionnaire Control and Prevention  Continuing Medical
 Language assistance (CDC) Education (CME) credits
service discounts  Industry Collaboration  Tips on working with an
 16 Commonly used Effort (ICE) interpreter
patient forms in Spanish  Video: Why use a
professional medical
interpreter?
 Video: Breaking down the
language barrier

* Visit CignaforHCP.com > Resources > Medical Resources > Doing Business with Cigna >
Cultural Competency Training and Resources

Confidential, unpublished property of Cigna. Do not duplicate or distribute. Use and distribution limited solely to authorized personnel. © 2015 Cigna 11
 CIGNA’S CULTURAL COMPETENCY WEB PAGE*

Increase cultural competency in

health care by:

* Visit CignaforHCP.com > Resources > Medical Resources > Doing Business with Cigna >
Cultural Competency Training and Resources

Confidential, unpublished property of Cigna. Do not duplicate or distribute. Use and distribution limited solely to authorized personnel. © 2015 Cigna 12
 ADDITIONAL FREE ONLINE RESOURCES
For health care professionals and their patients

Websites:
Multilingual and multicultural health information

Medline Plus is a website of the U.S. HealthReach is a website of the

National Library of Medicine. It provides National Institutes of Health. It provides
information in multiple languages by multilingual and multicultural health
health topic. information including audio, video, and
print resources.
English website:
nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/languages/langu Website:
ages.html https://healthreach.nlm.nih.gov/

Spanish website:
nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spanish/healthto
pics.html

Confidential, unpublished property of Cigna. Do not duplicate or distribute. Use and distribution limited solely to authorized personnel. © 2015 Cigna 13
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All models are used for illustrative purposes only.

887904 12/15 THN-2015-567 © 2015 Cigna. Some content provided under license.

Confidential, unpublished property of Cigna. Do not duplicate or distribute. Use and distribution limited solely to authorized personnel. © 2015 Cigna